By Leshi Adebayo
As the heat of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine keeps increasing, a shocking revelation has been made of how an Ukrainian man discovered the death of his wife, and 3 children via a viral Twitter photograph.
The Ukrainian, Mr Serhiy Perebyinis revealed the information during an interview with New York Times.
According to reports, his wife, Mrs Tatiana Perebeinis, 43, her kids Mykyta, 18; Alisa, 9; and Anatoly Berezhnyi, 26 year old church volunteer who was helping them escape — were all killed by Russian forces as they ran across a damaged bridge in Irpin on Sunday, March 6.
At the time of his family’s death, Mr Perebyinis, who was also wounded in the same attack, stated that he was in the Eastern part of Ukraine tending to his ailing mother.
On seeing the viral Twitter picture of the lifeless body of his wife and 2 children, the grieving husband/father took to his Facebook to share their photos (before their death) with a caption: “Forgive me, I didn’t cover you. He took them all,” he wrote. “What is this all for? What’s next? I’m on my way, I must see you one last time.”
How it happened
Narrating the story to New York Times, he explained that before the unfortunate event, his wife, Mrs Perebyinis had been in hiding with her children and parents in the family’s basement waiting for the right time to escape. Apparently, at the time, the delay was attributed to his wife’s mother’s sick state.
Seeing that their environment will not be calm anytime soon, they had no choice but to flee the area. Still, they had stall their plan because of an armoured ‘tank rolling down the street’.
Eventually, they saw an opening and got into a minivan, driving as far as they could away from the area. On getting to the Irpin bridge, where they were brutally killed, the group had to alight from the vehicle and travel across the bridge on foot.
According to Mr Perebyinis, he was tracking their location on his phone as they moved but became suspicious when no one answered the phone when he called. Not long after this time, he saw the disturbing image on Twitter confirming his suspicion.
Confirming it was his wife and children, he said, “I recognised the luggage and that is how I knew.” The luggages, which were ‘blood-stained suitcases and backpacks were pictured next to their bodies,’ New York Times reported.
Fortunately, his wife’s parents who were with them, escapee death as they were unharmed in the attack.
President Volodymr Zelenskiy’s reaction
After seeing the image on last Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could not hold his anger and displeasure regarding the brutal attack as he saddressed the matter the same day, with a pledge to “punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war”.
According to Yahoo News, Zelenskiy said, “We will find every b*****d which shot at our cities, our people. Which bombed our land. Which launched rockets. Which gave the order and pressed ‘start’. There will be no quiet place on this Earth for you. Except for the grave.”
In a bid to encourage the grieving husband and father, tributes have been pouring in on behalf of Mrs Perebyinis as she was said to be adored by colleagues at place of work, SE Ranking, a tech firm where she worked as a Chief Accountant during her lifetime.
They said in a statement which read in parts, “there are no words to describe our grief or to mend our pain”.
“Her family became the victim of the unprovoked fire on civilians, which under any law is a crime against humanity.”
“The Russian army are criminals, and they should be stopped. Our hearts are broken. Our prayers are for all Ukrainians, who are fighting for their right to exist,” Yahoo News reported.
Other colleagues according to The Independent, said she made “people smile whenever she spoke” as Mrs Perebyinis was “bright, witty, determined” and “like a big sister” to the team.
